Friday Find - December 24th

Merry Christmas to all!!!

I wish you all a happy, healthy and safe holiday!

Source:  http://www.housebeautiful.com/

Friday Find - December 17

This is the cutest tradition - wish I had known about it when my girls were small!

Read about it here...

New feature on dh designs–“Friday Find”

I've been feeling just a tad bit of guilt over the summer about my infrequent postings here.  Nothing you've done blog-land, just life was uber-busy, and maybe I would rather be outside enjoying the sunshine, or upstairs painting a bedroom, or out shopping.  Whatever the reason, I have been neglecting my blogger friends by not posting and even worse - not visiting and commenting on your blogs *GASP*.

Well I am about to remedy that.  And here's how:

One of the reasons why I've been skipping posting is a case of bloggers block.  I have set somewhat of a standard for my posts - they were not quick and easy to post, they took some thinking and time to formulate.  That seemed to be turning me off posting.  Soooo... I've decided that every Friday I will be doing a quickie post about something I've found that week that has caught my eye.  It won't be a novel, heck it won't even be a short story, it will just be a picture and perhaps a sentence or two.  I'm going to call this my "Friday Find".

And here's the first one:

I love this chair! Simple…

In need of a little warmth ….

Brrrr….

This cooler weather up here in the great cold north has me wishing I had a fireplace.

There’s nothing quite like curling up in front of a roaring wood fire to give you that comfy, warm all over feeling.  Now I know wood fires aren’t for everyone, and there are several benefits derived from natural gas fireplaces, or even electric fireplaces, but for me the smell of a wood fire is half the pleasure and if Blogger had that option, you can be guaranteed I’d be attaching it to this post :)!  But since it doesn’t here are some fireplace images to put you in the mood …

The clean warm feel of this room is achieved by mixing the warm wood tones, cream furnishings, walls and windows and of course the stainless fireplace.

I love the glow the fireplace gives this room.

And now, I’m wishing I could live in this beach house, although I’m not sure when I’d curl up in front of a roaring fire ??  But I do know that I’d be out on the beach a whole lot :).

This is more like it – good book, class of red, a nice warm blanket, and a dog or two cuddled up on the sofa with me.

I’d maybe do some mending while sitting by this fire, with a big pot of hearty stew bubbling on the stove.

Although this room doesn’t scream curl up by a roaring fire, I had to include it for the great furnishings, lovely wall colour and yes … the zebra rug!

I love the stone wall this fireplace is inserted into, although it is a gas fireplace.  One day I will use this stone in my home – one day I tell ya…

I love the mid-century modern look of this suspended fireplace.  I feel like I’m looking at James Bond’s ski chalet.  James dahling, that will be shaken not stirred please.

This is in an apartment in the Upper East Side NYC.  Hard to believe.

And now for the total opposite – a rustic home in the Adirondacks – notice the birch tree beside the fireplace?  Interesting!

And for some of these wonderful fireplaces, how about a nifty fireplace screen.  I found these in my latest email from Architectural Digest and fell in love.  They are made by Philip Nimmo Ironworks, out of Los Angeles, California.  They have many unique designs for fire screens, along with other products such as furniture, lighting and fireplace tools.  Philip Nimmo is also an architectural and interior design firm, so check out some of their work here as well.

Here are my favourites:

So are you sitting in front of your fireplace feeling a bit warmer now.  Wish I was!

Mastering the Big Picture

I’ve been telling you all over the last several months about projects we’ve undertaken here at home.  One of those has been our new master bedroom.  Renovating is a very s….l….o….w…. process when you are doing it yourself.  If a client was involved the choices would be made, acquired and installed within a projected timeframe.  When it’s your own room, the money isn’t always available to get what you need or want right away.  And when you work this way, it’s sometimes difficult to end up with a room that looks pulled together.  Here’s how I’ve done so far…

Just to remind you, here are some inspiration photos for my renovated master bedroom:

Sensing a trend here????  I love the soft, calm together look of the bedrooms Sarah designs.  I love the greys, blues, creams and whites.  I love the contrast of those colours with the dark pieces.  And I love the small touches of shimmer with the metal and glass elements. 

So, with these inspirations in mind, I’ve been at work in the master.  It’s not ready for a full reveal, but I’ll give you a sneak peak of the elements I have so far…

• I have picked my colours - a beautiful shade of grey/taupe for the walls and a slightly creamy white for the trim.

                                 

• My oh so handy hubby gave us the closet of our dreams – really I’ve reduced the number of closets I use in the house by 66% – down from 3 to 1!

• And he’s also done a phenomenal job on replacing the old trim with some of his own designs which adds some nice architectural detail in the room

• I’ve totally re-invented an old dresser into a lovely new piece (you can read about that here)

 

• I found a steal of a quasi-antique dresser for hubby on kijiji. 

• I have two beautiful Kelly Wearstler patterned pillows that I won from a giveaway over on the Kerrisdale Design blog.  These fit quite nicely in the room.

• I purchased two (yes two) sets of lamps for our room.  The first set was bought for the form.  The form doesn’t give off a lot of light, so is used for “mood” lighting.

And the second for the function which also happens to have some wicked form and throws the perfect amount of light for reading in bed.

• I have a gorgeous area rug for the room that I found at HomeSense.

I’m loving all of the elements I have so far, but I’ve struggled with picking an accent colour that I could use to put pop into the room.  With the walls being so neutral, I could literally pick from a multitude of accent colours.  In fact, that is why I love the colour of the room so much.  Without a whole lot of work or money I can change up the feel of the room just by changing the accent colour.

Then I was at Home Outfitters the other day and bumped into Brian Gluckstein.  Well, not literally.  (Although, I did see him at IDS 2010 in Toronto this past January.  Oh and did I mention that I was talking to Jane Lockhart at the time.)

                                            

Ok, enough with the name dropping, back to my encounter at Home Outfitters.  I’ve been searching for the “perfect” winter bedding for the room.  Something that would tie all of the colours in the room together and add that accent colour.  And I found it in one of Brian Gluckstein’s Home bedding products.  The pattern is called “Suede” and is a great combination of all of the colours in the room in addition to a nice light blue that actually provides a really nice accent colour.  The bedding is reversible too so I can have two different looks.  Here’s both sides of the sham:

      

And here’s a peak at what the room looks like now:

I still have quite a few items on my list to complete the master bedroom. 

• I need a mirror for above my dresser – in fact there is NOTHING on my walls at all.  I tell myself I’m still admiring my excellent taste in paint colours (snort) but we all know I’m afraid to put a nail in the perfectly finished walls
• I need to refinish the chair that will be placed in the room
• Window treatments are on the list
• I also haven’t decided on what to do with my bedside tables

Hopefully I’ll be finalizing the last few pieces over the next month or so and have a finished room by Christmas :)!

Have a great week folks!

Our family has grown

A huge welcome to our first grandchild, a boy, Adonai Joel (Adi) born October 13, 2010.

My heart is filled with love.

My latest TV addiction

Now that the cooler weather has arrived here in the Great White North, I’m beginning to take notice of the new fall TV season. 

I used to be a huge television fan, but for about 10 years or so now I’ve found that television programming is pretty lame.  Investigative cop shows don’t do it for me.  Medical dramas don’t do it for me.  Reality TV doesn’t do it for me either – with one exception.  Home and design TV shows.  And lately I’ve discovered a new show that I’m loving.  9 by design.  It seems like I may be a little behind the times for this show, but what I’ve seen so far has me addicted.  You have got to check this show out. 

Bob and Cortney Novogratz are parents of 7 (yes that’s right - SEVEN) children who run SIXX Design, designing and building homes, most often for themselves, most often in New York City.   It’s not just the work they do, it’s how they manage to get that work done with such unbelievably busy, hectic lives.  Often their projects will begin with locating a property that has been torn down, or should be torn down.  Their design and build will result in a property that rejuvenates neighbourhoods and sells for amazing sums of money.

Their style is a mixture of modern and vintage and somewhat chic.  In fact I believe I’ve heard them say they don’t have a style.  They put things that they like together and it works.  Here are some examples:

     

Check out their website for more!  And if you have a chance check out their show too – it’s quite entertaining!

A very special anniversary!

This is a very special year.  Twenty five years ago 5 girlfriends and I left our hubbies and babies behind to spend a couple of days of girl time together.  Just 48 hours, that’s all it took.  Forty eight hours to cement a bond between six women that has grown much stronger over the last 25 years, none of us could imagine our lives without it.

We started out in 1986 in a tent trailer for one night, graduated to a weekend, added a day every couple of years at our favourite campsite in Central Ontario – Sandbanks – rollicking in the waves and sand dunes. 

By 2001 we decided that we deserved to graduate to a cottage, and of course you can’t reserve a cottage for less than a week in the summer right??!!  See where we are going with this???? 

So this year being our 25th, we decided we should treat ourselves.  After some research, we decided to venture across the Canada/US border and spend a couple of days at a spa resort in Stowe, Vermont.

 

We spent three nights at the Stoweflake Resort and Spa, enjoying their townhome accomodations and spa and pool facilities.  I was the only one who took advantage of the spa facilities with a fantastic 80 minute Jasmine & Honey Vichy Treatment – can you say “Ahhhhhhhh”? 

We explored the wonderful shops and restaurants in Stowe, and quickly came to the conclusion that this would definitely be a repeat destination!  And for the next 25 years we have included another two very special friends. 

Just to give you a sense of how close we have become, here is a tribute to my very special girls:

We have shared many a laugh, shed many a tear and learned so very much about each other – and ourselves. We are the shoulder to cry on, the compassionate ear to confide in, the helping hand to rely on and the infectious grin to giggle with. We have been through the birth of children, the passing of dearly loved ones, the celebration of weddings and the pride of graduations.  We have supported each other through illnesses, our own and those of our families, short and long term. We have shared the triumphs of our children, the drama of our extended families, the heartbreak of ended relationships and the excitement of new ones.   

I consider myself so very many times blessed to have so many very special women in my life. I would not be the person I am without any single one of them.

Happy 25th Anniversary Gals!!!